1/15/2012 Hobbitland

I don't need or want much "stuff" and am repelled by thoughts of shopping for more of it. However, I have a tendency to be outside in all kinds of weather. And that means that my room generally looks like an eruption of the L.L. Bean volcano.

And I am pretty okay with this, because having the right gear keeps me comfy, so I can stay out longer. Simple.

The shin has been weird all week. I decided that running on the insanity of the Bond Brook trails on who knows what kind of snow/terrain situation was probably not a great idea, even though today was scheduled as a Wed/Sun 2pm Bond Brook Thing.

TorTILLah said he was planning on coming along, so when he revealed that he had never been to Hobbitland, the decision to go play there seemed obvious. Hobbitland is sort of like one big gradual hill, and it's adjacent to the streets of Hallowell, the Kennebec River Rail Trail, and the Hall-Dale Track, etc, so the options are endless. Not knowing what, if anything, the shin would prefer, I figured this might work.

I'd hoped Tortillah would not wear shorts this time since it was about 14 degrees F and breezy. (Not sure what the windchill was but maybe around -10 where we were. Not bad really. But still.) And he didn't! BUT he totally did wear Vibram FiveFingers, which seemed potentially not fun to me. But they're his feet, so off we went. I was wearing tons of clothing, 4 layers on top, 2 layers of pants, 2 hats. I lumbered along not sure what to expect, but imagined that if anything, I was wearing too much.

The snow was somewhat packed in Hobbitland and the running was slow but fine. We paused to check out the cool hobbit bridges and waterfall. The first hill is about 3/4 of a mile long and gradual and I did indeed start sweating by the top of it. We completed the loop and then decided to run on the roads for a little bit. I wanted to see if the shin would react. It didn't. Weird.

We went through downtown and attempted to check out the Rail Trail but it was pretty icy, so we headed back toward Hobbitland for another loop in the other direction. I kept bugging Tillah, asking if his toes were cold and he kept saying he was fine. I tried to scare him with visions of amputated toes, to which he calmly responded with something like, "At least it'd just be my toes, not my balls." Yes: he has all the qualities necessary for a suitable running buddy.

I ended up carrying my (overkill huge GoreTex) gloves much of the way, and in our last loop I even took off one hat. My eyebrows had frozen from the sweat. I unzipped a few layers partway to ventilate a few times but most of those got re-zipped pretty fast. Overall I did end up being pretty comfy, nothing got too cold or too hot.

It definitely helped to have company; I was feeling not-so-hardcore toward the end, but fortunately was too involved in conversation (lots of Important UltraTopics as usual!), and the beautiful alpenglow on the treetops, to care. It was a lovely run.

Another thing that helps in some inexplicable way is just knowing that other people, potentially sort of vaguely like-minded people, maybe, are out there too. They are doing the same things, enduring similar challenges/variables, and kicking bountiful bunches of ass. (And many of them are excellent writers too -- check out the links on the right.) Community from afar is still community. You could have all the best gear in the world but would it be remotely enriching/interesting/amusing/inviting without a bitchin' community in which to act on it?

Speaking of which, sort of: Tortillah wants to meet Bradbury Mountain SP for the first time! And I think that sounds lovely. We decided we'll run there at 2pm on Wednesday. If anyone local likes the thought of going as slowly as we do, do feel free to come along. Lots of Very Important Topics of conversation will of course be discussed. Resistance is useless.

~98 minutes
~7.27 miles
About 14 degrees, breezy, sunny, 4-5" somewhat packed snowy trails and some roads
Hobbitland/Hallowell - Rolling hills, a few steeps, not like Bond Brook though!
Running pants, windpants, polypro LS shirt, fleece waffle shirt, windbloc fleece vest, midweught fleece jacket, cotton hippie hat, fleece-lined wool hat, big goretex gloves, smartwool socks, brooks cascadia 6 shoes. Wow.
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I visited Shen yesterday and since I didn't take any run pictures today, here is a Shen pic!